Arsonist fails in appeal over late night attack

A man from Longford has failed in his appeal against a six-year jail sentence for arson at the Court of Appeal. Lee Goodchild was convicted of setting fire to a house on Rattan Ash Road, Mullingar, on 26 August 2019, contrary to the Criminal Damage Act. He was sentenced in July 2021 at Mullingar Circuit Court to seven and a half years' imprisonment, with the final 18 months suspended for ten years. Goodchild argued the trial judge erred in law when setting a headline sentence of ten years. Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy rejected the appeal, finding the judge did not err in identifying the appropriate sentence. The court noted Goodchild was on bail and serving a suspended sentence at the time of the offence, and had prior criminal damage convictions. The attack caused considerable damage and distress to the occupant, who had to escape through a window.